Jonathan Tropper Talks THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU, BANSHEE Season 3, His Project with Steve Carell, Wanting to Direct, and More

Now playing in theaters is director Shawn Levy’s (Real Steel) adaptation of the Jonathan Tropper novel This Is Where I Leave You. Featuring a fantastic ensemble cast including Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Corey Stoll, Jane Fonda, Rose Byrne, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton, Ben Schwartz, Timothy Olyphant, Aaron Lazar, Debra Monk, Abigail Spencer, and Dax Shepard, the story revolves around a dysfunctional family that is forced to come together and sit Shiva when their father dies, opening old wounds and reigniting passions that have long-since been repressed. Loaded with great performances and a very funny script, I definitely recommend seeing the film this weekend. For more on This is Where I Leave You, read Adam’s review or watch the trailer.

Last week I landed an extended video interview with author Jonathan Tropper, who also wrote the screenplay for the movie. He talked about the difficulty of bringing his novel to theaters, collaborating with Shawn Levy, the incredible cast, the project he’s working on with Steve Carell, his approach to writing novels and screenplays, wanting to direct, and more. In addition, with Tropper hard at work on Banshee season 3 (he’s the showrunner), we talked about how filming has been going, what fans can expect in season 3, how the end of the season will feel like the end of The Empire Strikes Back in the sense that there are unresolved questions, and more. Hit the jump to watch.

Jonathan Tropper:

Trooper reveals a bit about Banshee Season 3.

1:00 – Comparing the pulpy Banshee to the more realistic This Is Where I Leave You.

2:20 – How they approach adapting Banshee to TV.

3:30 – Compares season 3 to Empire Strikes Back in the sense that there are unresolved questions. Banshee gets good ratings so Trooper isn’t worried about unexpected cancellation.

4:50 – Describes working with Shawn Levy on multiple projects until they finally got This Is Where I Leave You made.

6:15 – Trooper says he and Levy both have more commercial sensibilities.

8:10 – Discusses how hard it is to get this type of “talking drama” movie made.

9:30 – Levy and Trooper are discussing working on another project but Levy is a busy director.

10:45 – Banshee and This Is Where I Leave You were shooting at the same time but Trooper made it to the This Is Where I Leave You set as often as he could.

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